Increasing Number of Christians in China Will Increase Tensions Between PRC and US

There are now more than 100 million Protestants and over 10 million Catholics in China, according to this report, up from 3 million at the end of the Cultural Revolution. "The explosive growth of Chinese Christianity is on a collision course with a government determined to centralize power in the Communist Party in ways not seen since the death of Mao. China’s Christians are to a great extent urban, well-educated and connected to global information networks. For these reasons, serious pressure on Christians will have an even more damaging impact on China’s international standing than what happened in Tibet, Xinjiang or Hong Kong. As news spreads that the Communist Party is persecuting Christians for their faith, the effects on American public opinion will be both explosive and long-lasting, potentially ending any hope for better or even stable relations between Washington and Beijing." Read the story here (paywall may apply).